William arch



UNITED STATEs PATENT OFFICE.

XVILLIAM ARCH. MURRAY, OF PIAKO, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND.

WIRE-TIGHTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,514, dated October11, 1887.

Application filed October 9, 1885. Serial No. 179.422. (No model.)Patented in New Zealand July 31, 1884, No. 1,177; in England July11,1885, No. 8,421, and inVictcria December 31, 1285.

T0 64 whom, it may concern:

Be it known that l, XVILLIAM ARCH. .MUR- RAY, of Piako, Auckland, NewZealand, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inW'ire-Fence Strainers, (patented to me in New Zealand July 31, 1881, No.1,177; in England July 11, 1885, No. 8,421, and in Victoria December 31,1885,) of which the following is a specification.

I employ a device, which I term a jack, equipped with means foreffecting the taking up of the slack or effecting the principal portionof the straining movement, and I provide further devices, which I term akey and clip, which hold the wire without relaxing any of the strain.The jack is then easily disengaged. The parts left on the fence are oflittle bulk, weight, or cost.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification, andrepresent what I consider the best means of earryingouttheinvention.

Figure 1 is a general side elevation of asection offence with myinvention applied thereto. In this figure the upper wire is strained,the second is being strained,and the third,fourth, and fifth are readyfor straining. The succeeding figures are on a larger scale. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of my jack in position for use, with a portion of thechain through which the straining-tension is transmitted. Fig. 3 showsanother portion of the chain and its engagement with one of the wires.Fig. 3 may be considered as a continuation of Fig. 2, ap plying at theleft thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the double hook. Fig. 4 shows thewires after the jack has completed its work and when the ends of thestrained wires are first engaged by the key. Fig. 5 shows the sameparts, with the addition of the clip, after they have been brought intothe position in. which they are left. Fig. 6 represents the keydetached. Fig. 7 represents the clip detached.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures where they occur.

A is a fulcrum-piece, of iron or steel, certain portions beingdesignated,when necessary, by additional marks, as A A B is a bolt,which forms the center for a linkpawl, O, and also for a forked lever,D, which latter is connected by trunnions (I with alinkpawl, G.

H is a bar, furnished on its upper face with inclined notches h, and onone end with a link, I, which connects to it a swivelhook, J.

The piece A is provided with a hook, A, at one end, and with aclamping-surface, A, at the other end. This clamping surface A serves,in connection with an eccentric-clamp, K, turning on a center, L,carried on the piece A, as means for strongly seizing a wire and holdingit firmly against strain.

M is a chain equipped at one end with a double or bifurcated hook, M.

Assuming the operation to be effected at thejunction of two lengths ofwire, the jack is engaged with the right hand wire, T, by means of theclamp K A ,and the notched bar H h being introduced and engaged with thelink-pawls G G, the double hook M is engaged with a loop in the end ofthe lelt-hand wire, S, and one of the links of the chain M is thenengaged with the hook J; but this link should not be the first one. Itis important that a few of the links at the extremity of the chain beleft free, for a use which will appear further on. Now the lever D isvibrated to the right and left. Every movement to theleft engages thelink-pawl G with a fresh notch, h. Every movement of the lever D to therighthauls the bar H h to the right and allows the link-pawl O to dropinto a new notch. This holds the bar while the lever D is again moved tothe left to take anew hold, and the operation is repeated. When thisoperation has proceeded far enough,the loose end of the chain M,whichhas been so far hanging idle, is engaged on the hook A, and the lever Dbeing again vibrated and the pawls lifted the bar H is relieved fromtension. Now the bar II is moved to the left and its hook J engaged inthe chain Min a new place farther to the left, and the jack is againoperated until a further length of the chain is taken up and hooked onthe hook A.

\Vhen the wire is enough strained, I make a loop, T, on the right-handwire, T, almost touching the loop S on the left-hand wire, S.

I employ for the permanent engagement of these loops parts which I terma key and clip.

W is the key. It is provided with deep notches w w along one ed ge,asingle deep notch, w, on the other edgc,near one end, and a deepnotch,"w", in the opposite end. X is a clip, of stout iron or steelwire, bent into a shape approximating the form of the letter C. Iprovide a liberal supply of thesekeys and clips.

To engage the loops ST,I insert one of the keys Wpartially through theloop Tand engage such loop in one of the notches 20. Then I engage theloop S of the opposite wire in the end notch,w". The parts being now inthe position shown in Fig. 4,the key is ready to serve as a lever, thefree end of which is moved to the left by the force of the hand until itlies adjacent to the wire S, thus carrying the looped ends S T a littlepast each other and giving the final strain to the wires. Now the clipXis applied, engaging the wire S with the key, it being held in place bymeans ofthe notch w, and the work is complete, ready to stand for anindefinite period, or until the wires shall again require straining.Thekeys should weigh about six ounces each. Four pcr wire per mile aresufiicient.

My jack and its attachments and my keys and links are equally suited forbarbed wire or common wire. Each wire of a fence can be strained in twoor three minutes.

Theinvention requires no special adaptation of posts by boring orotherwise. Two out of threestraining-posts ordinarily used are saved.

Modifications may be made in the forms and proportions without departingfrom the principle.or sacrificing the advantages of the invention. I canuse simple hook-pawls instead of the linlepawls O and G. The hook J maybe attached stiffiy,instead of being allowed to swivel.

Parts of the invention may be used without the whole. I can use the jackwith its chain, and employ other means than the key and clip forpermanently connecting the loops S '1" 1 after the fence has beenproperly strained.

I do not claim in this application the key W and holding clip or link X,these being claimed in my application No. 219,569, filed November 23,1886. i V

I am aware'that wire tighteners embodying some of the features of thisinvention have been known before, and are shown in patents to George S.Dean, July 2t,1883; S. .I. Mac- Donald, .Iuly 28, 1885, and others; I donot wish to be understood as claiming such,

broadly; but i What I do claim is- 1. The combination,with thefulcrum-piece A, having clamp K A and with the lever D and pawl 0,supported in said piece A, of the pawl G,pivoted to the lever D, and thetoothed bar H 72, having hook I J, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination,with the fulcrum piece A, having clamps K A and hookA, and with the lever D and pawl O, both centered upon the boltB,supp0rted in said piece A, of the pawl

